Bill Murray criticised after forcibly kissing Naomi Watts in ‘horrifying’ talk show moment

‘That was rough to watch,’ one viewer complained

Bill Murray has been criticised after forcibly kissing Naomi Watts on a US talk show.

Earlier this week, the actor, who has been getting candid about his career regrets, appeared on Watch What Happens Live alongside Watts, with whom he stars in new film The Friend.

At one stage, Australian star Watts, who is married to Billy Crudup, was asked about the best movie or TV kiss of her career and Murray quickly grabbed her face and kissed her.

Watts, 56, appeared visibly shocked, placing her face in her hands, while shaking her head. But she took the moment, which was intended to be a joke, in her stride, telling Murray, 74: “You’ve got lipstick on her face.” She then asked: “Did I go red?”

Murray, whom previously starred opposite Watts in 2014 film St Vincent, looked into the camera and put his thumb up.

However, the actor, who has had a run-in with one of his eager fans, is receiving backlash for the kiss, with one person calling it “horrifying” and “disrespectful” on X/Twitter.

Bill Murray forcibly kissing Naomi Watts on US talk show (YouTube)

Another viewer wrote: “Bill Murray‘s appearance on WWHL tonight was... something.

“Between calling Naomi Watts a little girl to grabbing & kissing her without notice. I’ve been a fan as long as I can remember but it was rough to watch.

Others questioned host Andy Cohen’s response, who branded the moment “so good”.

“How gross and horrifying. Andy saying ‘yes’ and ‘so good’, ugh just awful,” one person chimed in.

The Independent has contacted Watts and Murray for comment.

Bill Murray and Naomi Watts star in new film ‘The Friend’ (Getty Images)

Watts eventually revealed her favourite career kiss was Billy Crudup, whom she married in 2023.

In January, writing in her new book Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I’d Known about Menopause, Watts revealed that a sex scene with Crudup was so steamy that it sparked their relationship.

The Oscar-nominated actor, 54, spoke about the experience, revealing that it made her “blush” and “break character”.

The Mulholland Drive star recounted meeting Crudrup on the set of the 2017 Netflix series Gypsy, in which Watts played a “horny, sociopathic therapist”. Crudup played the husband of her character.

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

“Billy and I chatted on set during lighting changes and I’d have said we were friendly,” Watts wrote.

Billy Crudup and Naomi Watts are married (AFP via Getty Images)

“But for a very long time, that was as far as it went. I was so closed off to love that in the months and months of shooting, even after we’d simulated sex on screen many times, dry-humping each other to the point of exhaustion, I hadn’t given romance with him a thought.”

At the time, Watts had recently separated from her ex-husband, the American actor Liev Schrieber, whom she was with for 11 years. They share two children together.

Watts said that she changed her mind about Crudup after filming a sex scene so steamy it made her “blush” and “break character”.

“Then one day during a sex scene, he spontaneously flung a pillow across the room while ravishing me with such passion that I blushed and broke character,” she wrote.

“Oh! Why, hello, sailor,” I thought to myself, and as me, not as the woman I was playing. Then: “Wait, that felt like… something.”